LERC Services

Digital Ecology: supporting organisations to preserve environmental records

Local Environmental Records Centres (LERCs) are key custodians of biological records and other environmental data. Each LERC supports biological recording, provides a range of data products and services and has a wealth of knowledge and contacts in their area.

One of LERCs’ key roles is the sharing of environmental data with a wide range of customers, using a variety of systems to manage data and create outputs. Being able to do this efficiently and effectively is vital to making sure data are incorporated into decision making about the natural environment.

Digital Ecology services for LERCs

Digital Ecology supports LERCs with data management, data cleaning, data processing and reporting tasks. We also provide training for LERC staff on R and QGIS.

Our commitment to using open-source software means that LERCs can benefit from up-to-date tools for data management, analysis and presentation, without diverting budget and resources away from their core work: collecting and managing biological records.

Our projects include:

  • automated production of Local Wildlife Site citations
  • data search systems
  • digital technology review and strategy
  • training

Examples of our work with LERCs

Local Wildlife Site reporting system

Digital Ecology created a system for generating Local Wildlife Site citations and survey reports for North East Yorkshire Ecological Data Centre(NEYEDC). Previously reports were created by hand on demand, which for over 2,000 sites, was a considerable undertaking. Digital Ecology created a system where a single report can be generated in a couple of minutes and all 2,000+ plus reports can be generated in a few hours.

The system means it is really easy for NEYEDC to create these reports, as well as keep them up-to-date when new information is received after each survey season.

Click here to view Digital Ecology Director, Dan Carpenter’s presentation on this system.

Data searches for RECORD - RedSea

Digital Ecology is currently building a data search tool for RECORD - the LERC for the Cheshire region. The tool is designed to replace a legacy data search system, aiming to increase the speed at which data searches can be carried out.

As part of the tool development, Digital Ecology is creating interactive reports to send to customers to better present data and increase client understanding of what RECORD can offer. We aim to increase the value of the data for RECORD clients, and increase the number of search requests as a result.

RECORD have committed to making the RedSea app open source, so that other LERCs can benefit from this work.